Festiva to screen rare

The 2013 OzAsia festival will be a home-inspired treat for the Indian diaspora

0ne of India 's greatest au teurs, Sat:yaj ir Ray's recently resto1·ed films will be shown during the OzAsia festival from 13-29 September in Adelaide, to coincide with the anniversary of 100 years of Ind ian cinema in 2ll13 lorernationally acclaimed filnL~ by che ren own ed director such as Nfobanaga,· (The big city), Chamlato (The lonely wife), Kapumsh (The coward) and Mahapumsh (The saint) are all par t of the Adelaide Cinemachegue. These films have been recently restored, and will be screened alongside the one on Ray himself (The Cre,1tive Perso11).

The film is an unigue partnership with Adelaide Cinematbegue'.s OzAsia on Screen , in association w ith t he Media Resource Centre. This year's festival will feature a wide variety of feature films and documentaries encompassing films

10 JULY 2013 from I n dia, Hong Kong,Japan, Malaysia, Australia, China and Indonesia. In a first, the festival will showcase tl1e Asia Pacific's hig hest accolade in lilm, the Asia Pacific Screen Award s with a selection of the 2012 fi lms in competition.

The program for the Adelaide Festival Centre's award winning OzAs.ia Festival tl1at celebrates its seventh year r unning in 2013 was unveiled at tlie Ade laide Festival Centre recently Ir will host 28 performances and 47 events featuring 195 ar tists and presenters from across the Asia Pacific region.

The 2013 program boasts 6 world premieres, 9 Australian p rernieres, 22 South Australian premieres, 24 Ans tralian exclusives and 2 Adelaide exclusives The spotlight for this year is on Malaysia and the Malay Tige r, national animal of tlie country is the hero image for the festival Acco rding to the organisers, like tl1e tiger, die festival encompasses virmes of bravery, strength an d regality

Ozi\sia festival's Artistic Director Jacinta Th ompson says, "Malaysia is an exhilarating and diverse country to explore wi tl1 a melting pot o f races an d religions where l'vfalay, I ndia n Chinese an d other etlinic groups creace a healthy and vibrant cultural environmem".

]\fa T ho mpso n further stated tbat OzAsia 2013 encapsulates this vibrancy and diversi ty ilirongh an array o f performances, evems and exhibition s, fro m acclaimed con tempo rary singer songwriter Yuna and Gabriel Robert Rawantas commonly known as Guba, m political and social theatre tl1at iorerrogates race and ide nti ty, literature even ts tha t g ive voice to contemporary Malaysian writers, and food and community events tl1ac explore the g astron omic paradise that is Malaysia. Indeed, the re will be sometliing for everyon e.

One o f rbe m ost interesting experiences will be an evening wi th Malaysian born I ndi an singer an d darling of Australian music, Kamahl. He will take tlie audience on a nostalgic journey through music. It is a lirtle known fact tl1at tlus icon nugrated to Adelaide in 1953, as one o f south Au stralia's firsr migrants of south Indian /i'vlalaysian origin. Seeing him perform is like taking a trip tl1rough lustory.

U-Theatre from Taiwan's m t)st revered theatre croupe will perform Meeti11g 111ith Bodhisa/111a, feamring

16 drumm ers in an enlightening whirlwin d o f acbletic drumming, martial arts, Bucl d lust chanting and sacred d ances. T he other area of interest to tl1e Indian diaspora will be Talking History's 'Forgotten Connections - India and South A11stralio, 1880- 1940s.

Professor Emeritus Margaret Allen, from the U1u versi ry of Adelaide will d e li ver a talk o n lustorical connections between India and Australia w ith craders, travellers and missio n aries journeying b etween Indian and Au stralian Ports.

The crowd -puller during the OzAsia festival is the Moon Lantern festival o n September 19 from 3pm to 8 30 pm at the E lder Park. It will feamre 12 scliools an d 42 communi ty groups includi ng local hh,mgra dancers and turban tyin g stalls. TI1e illwninated moon la n tern mascots wiU be the Indian inspired link to th e 2012 tl1eme, as well as d1e sumpruous feast of Asian fres h food.

O n e item to look om for will be visual artist Daniel Connells work, projec ted onto i nner city walls every night of tl1e festival. Last year his work hontmred the parents of young Indian migrants to Adelaide, and in 2013 he w ill focus o n the South Nortl1 Ease and West Asian faces rhat make up tl1e many :Malaysian stude nts i n Adelaide.

Adelaide Festival Centre CEO and Artistic Direc tor Douglas Gautier said , "Over th e la st seven years the Adelaide Festival Centre has steadily built a repu tation for i ts successful focus on As.ia -Australian cultural engagement".

He furtl1er stared rhat the festival, through performing arts, literature, films an d visual arts strives to im prove tl1e understanding of Australians in regard s to As ian culture, traditions and language. He asserted t h at the showcasing of Asian culmre aids in connecting lo cal Aus tralian Asian communities, and is helping to p ro m ote respect and harmony in the South Australian communi ty

H e further stated rhat tl1e nature of the varied artistic coUaborations witl1 Asia and festival cen tres' training and exchange programs for Asian arcs administrators is h elping to develop deep and broad relations with t he Asian region.

The full program details are available in tl1e OzAsia festival program: www oznsia.festival com au w ww.in d ia n li nk.com. a u